Posted on 10/10/2003 4:42:38 PM PDT by B-Chan
Popular radio show host Rush Limbaugh revealed today that he is addicted to illegally-obtained prescription painkillers and is entering a rehabilitation program for substance abusers.
His supporters have “rushed” to defend their idol, running around clucking about how this is really all no big deal. Well, I’m sorry to say, it is a big deal, and the legions of Rush Limbaugh devotees are just going to have to deal with the pain. It’s always devastating to find out your idol has feet of clay. “Say it ain’t so, Joe!”
I, however, am not among the breast-beaters and sackcloth-wearers who are crying in the streets over their toppled god. Frankly, I never understood what was so great about the Rush Limbaugh program. The man was a self-admitted entertainer, not a real political thinker; his brand of rubber-chicken, Chamber-Of-Commerce conservatism has as much to do with historic and traditional conservative thought as Coors Light has to do with real beer - they contain the same basic ingedients, true, but one is watered down for easy-drinkin’ smoothness, with no bitter intellectual aftertaste.
(Speaking of Coors Light, why was it that so many of the good ol’ boys that called in to Mr. Limbaugh’s show with their “cawmints” seemed to be drywall contractors cellphoning from their pickup trucks while driving home to Lewisville? Limbaugh’s listeners were good people, mind you, but not the deepest thinkers in the world.
Not that there‘s anything wrong with that. My point is that Mr. Limbaugh’s show was meant as mass entertainment, not serious politics.)
I guess one reason I never got hooked on Rush (to make a bad pun) was that his fan base kind of freaked me out. Cults-of-personality just make me feel weird. The frenzied worship many of Limbaugh’s fans showed towards him in public was positively embarrassing at times: behavior on the level of the kids who wear Star Trek uniforms to school or spend hours writing elegies in Elvish for fallen Glorfindel of Rivendell. In sci-fi terms, Rush Limbaugh was the Gene Roddenberry of American conservatism, with his own brand of Trekkies; it must be a bummer to realize that the Great Bird of the Galaxy is just another Hollywood sleazebag like everyone else in showbiz
The problem is that people have a natural tendency to make their heroes into larger-than-life supermen, and in so doing they set themselves up for inevitable disappointment. Limbaugh is not the political genius his followers see him to be — he is a showman. I agreed with a good bit of what Mr. Limbaugh had to say on the few occasions when I tuned in to his show over the years, but it was obvious to me from the beginning that most of it was pure schtick, complete with sound effects, zingers, and catchphrases. (The latter were the most cringeworthy; I always found talk of “el Rushbo”, the ”Maharushi”, and the “Golden Microphone” to be intensely stupid, and his constant talk of “excellence” conjured up images of the kind of profound Mission Statements one sees plastered on the walls of companies run by sleazy go-getters. “SlimeCorp — Maximizing Excellence!” Give me a break!)
Anyone who took Limbaugh seriously has got to be hurting right now; finding out that anti-drug Rush is a closet pill-popper has gotta be like finding out that Art Bell doesn’t really believe in the Chupacabra. I feel for his fans — but I hope they’ve learned the lesson in all this: all men are flawed; never get too excited about any one man.
My prayers go out to Mr. Limbaugh’s loved ones. May God grant him a speedy recovery, and may those who looked upon him as more than human finally get the message.
A guy I knew in high school.
Just kidding. I meant Thomas Sowell, of course. Thanks for catching my error; my inability to express myself knows no bound.
Same here. He's a great comentator. He's right on about the left.
This doesn't bother me at all as far as a listener to his program. Petty stuff doesn't bother me.
I do feel sorry for him. He's got some heavy duty stuff to deal with in his life. I wish him well.
Sticks and stones could break his bones, but idiots taking their own problems out on him will never hurt him.
The problem with Rush is that he has a spine that was damaged. Posts like this prove some people don't have one.
Only the weak minded would have their bedrock priciples shaken by confirmation that their hero has feet of clay.
Don't read here much, do you?
That‘s true in one sense: he‘s much better at making money than I am.
Thanks for the ad hominem, Amish Dude. As always, I stand in awe of your coal-fired, cast-iron computer.
THIS IS FROM THE ORIGINAL THREAD
Popular radio show host Rush Limbaugh revealed today that he is addicted to illegally-obtained prescription painkillers and is entering a rehabilitation program for substance abusers.
THIS IS WHATS POSTED ABOVE!
Changing the original thread and his own words DONT MAKE IT SO !
A combination of George Orwell and Thomas Sowell?
You know what they say about opinions...
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